Father's Day
by Outtie
Summary: Eli gets transported to a parallel universe. Some continuity from my first story 'Mother's Day'. Warning story may contain mild swearing and matriarchy. COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

Eli had never celebrated Father's Day. He hadn't really minded much. After all he wasn't the only kid in his school didn't have a dad. To him Father's Day was always a day that he spent with his mother, getting up early to make her breakfast (at least that was always his intention; he never quite managed to actually do it) and spending the day doing whatever she wanted to do together. Sort of a bonus Mother's Day if you will.

He really hadn't expected Father's Day would even be noticed on Destiny. After all the only fathers on board were trillions of light years away from their kids. "_Well most of them anyway", _Eli thought, catching a glimpse of Colonel Young sitting cross-legged on the floor playing peek-a-boo with his four month old daughter Eve. Eli stopped to watch the simple game, almost absent mindedly pulling out a kino to record a few moments to add to the home movies he was already working on for the crew's Christmas party.

He had considered Colonel Young a sort of sudo-father figure since he came on board, he'd even felt a little jealous of the baby, taking up so much of Young's time, but he certainly seemed to be much happier now that he and Rush (Rush!) were raising their child together. Dr. Rush had even changed quarters, moving in next door to Colonel Young in order to be closer to baby Eve. As for _not baby_ Eve, she had moved in on the other side of Young with her own baby, a boy she'd called Cain to the amusement of many, ("Good grief" Eli thought, "There are way too many babies on the ship these days"), making it one big, happy, weird family unit. Eli kept trying to pump her for information about the future or at least a date, but so far she didn't seem interested in supplying either.

Young and TJ still hadn't worked out all their issues yet, but Johansson was a regular visitor to the family corridor, clearly doting on Eve, though she had been seen to wipe away a few tears while she held her, no doubt thinking of her own lost baby.

As Eli stood silently recording Young playing with his baby daughter, grown up Eve walked up and picked 'er… _herself_ up and tossed herself in the air eliciting squeals of delight from baby Eve and all always, creeping Eli out enormously. He still half-expected the universe to implode whenever grown-up Eve touched her younger self. "I suppose if it was going to happen it would have happened already" Eli muttered.

"What was that?" Young asked, as he rose slowly from his cramped seated position and stretched.

"Nothing, I'm late for my Earth trip" Eli said, hastily putting the kino away and retreating back the way he'd come, suddenly anxious to go home and see his mother, even if he would have to do it in someone else's body.

Young nodded, turning back to his daughter(s), when a voice called from Colonel Young's hip, "_Colonel Young come in_".

"This is Young, what do you want Rush."

Thinking back this should have been Eli's cue to leave. After all the Colonel probably wouldn't have pulled him back from Earth, once he'd already 'left'. But curiosity got the better of him and he chose to stay and hear what Rush had to say.

"_We've found a strange device in the Ancient storage room we've been exploring_" Rush said, over the Colonel's radio. "_It appeared to be dead without any power until we dropped out of FTL, but it is now emanating trace amounts of radiation and registering some faint power readings_".

"And I suppose you want permission to play around with the thing, don't you Rush?" the Colonel said.

"_I did say I would keep you informed_" Rush replied, ignoring the idea that he needed permission.

"Rush! You better not start pressing buttons until you're sure what they're supposed to do … Rush?" Colonel Young yelled into his radio, but the Scottish scientist was clearly no longer listening. Frustrated once again by Rush's general disregard for authority, Young turned to Eli, who was just now getting the hint that he should take off NOW before Young asked him to check up on Rush, and asked, "Eli, would you please go check up on Rush and see to it that he stays out of trouble for once?"

"What? No!" Eli replied, positive that this is not how he wanted to spend his day, "I'm scheduled to visit my mom. She's expecting me!"

"Don't worry I'll have someone go over and tell her you'll be a little late. She'll understand" Young said, making it clear to Eli that this was not a matter for debate.

"Fine" Eli muttered, as his plans for a nice day with his mother baking cookies transformed into a day of getting yelled at by Rush on one side for not letting him push buttons and by Young on the other side for _letting_ Rush push buttons.

Eli headed into the Ancient storage room, a room he'd been avoiding for over a year. Ever since the unfortunate series of incidents with another machine they'd discovered in that room. Brody still wasn't speaking to him for that one. As he walked reluctantly towards the storage room, Eli brushed by Scott as he came out of the stone room. Eli remembered that Scott had just been on Earth to see his son for Father's Day. The boy still didn't know him, even if he had been able to visit in his own body, but Scott kept up regular visits to Earth to watch him from afar and see to it that his mother was getting enough of his salary to live on, after all it wasn't like Scott would be using his salary in the near future.

"Oh Eli" said Scott, the Colonel's message just came through, don't worry, Dr. Morrison will deliver your message to your mother. He's just going to Earth now."

"Great …Morrison" Eli said, rolling his eyes. If there was one scientist on this ship who was more difficult to work with then Rush, it was Morrison. Eli wondered if Morrison would even bother with his message since the order came from the military. Not that there was anything Eli could do about that now.

Eli arrived at the storage room and headed for the pool of light in the dim room, "_what was it with the ancients and lights anyway? Were they part bat or something?" _he assumed Rush would be there,messing with yet another device that would probably try to kill them by the end of the day.

This device didn't look too scary. It looked like a big picture frame standing strait up in the middle of the room, with Rush beside it twiddling one of several dials that ran up the side of the machine.

"Hey!" Eli said as soon as he saw was Rush was doing, "The Colonel said NOT to press any buttons!"

"Well as you can see, Mister Wallace, I am not pressing any buttons, I am turning a dial."

"You know what he meant!" Eli said, crossing his arms and trying to stare Rush down.

"Yes, well, the Colonel worries too much. If we are going to be on this ship for the next several decades, as it seems we are, if Eve is any indication, then we need to search Destiny from top to bottom and discover all her secrets. Any one of these devices could be the key to our sustained existence on this ship".

"Or a way to get home" said Eli, noting that Rush didn't mention possibility.

"Of course" Rush said, sounding annoyed that Eli still wasn't committed to the mission as he was, "It could also be a source of power, or of water or food…"

"A replicator?"

"Are you referring to the fictional devices from Star Trek or the machines that attacked Earth a few years ago?" Rush asked.

"From Star Trek" Eli replied, surprised that Rush actually got a reference for once, "What do mean machines that attacked Earth a few years ago?"

"You should really find the time to watch the rest of those videos Mister Wallace" Rush said, smiling. "Now if you want to help me, please monitor the devices' power readings as I 'play' with the dials and tell me when the readings change" he noticed Eli hadn't moved and added, "or you can just stand there and report back to Young if I blow something up" as he spoke Rush turned a new dial and suddenly a picture shimmered to life in the picture frame. It looked like a green hillside in springtime.

Eli decided helping might be a good plan after all. He and Rush spent the next several hours toying with the device, while monitoring the power levels and watching to see what the various dials would do to the picture. They'd discovered that one of the dials seemed to control the overall power level of the device while the others apparently controlled what was displayed in the frame. They'd also discovered that depending on the power level the picture would either be quite hazy and almost gaseous to the touch, while increased levels of power gave the picture a more solid look, which almost seemed real. At the highest power setting Eli could swear he'd felt a gentle, flower scented breeze coming out of the frame! They'd now seen not just an idyllic hillside, but also a riverbank, a rock quarry in what appeared to be Vancouver and even a reflection of the same room they were in, except they apparently weren't there, "Weird" Eli said, "Looking at this room, but not being able to see us in it".

"I'm not certain that we are looking at this room at all" Rush said, "At least not in this current time period".

"What are you saying we've discovered a time machine?" Eli asked.

"Not necessarily" Rush answered, "The device may simply be an early version of the stargate… or a latter version. I'm not certain"

"Wait, so you think if we just step through the frame we'd travel to the place we're seeing?"

"If the power level is at its highest, yes, I think so" Rush replied, "Though I don't know how you would return. Unless these windows lead to identical devices on the other side, much like the stargates, we'd be stranded."

"Why don't we send a kino through and see what we can find?" Eli said, excited now by the possibilities.

"Excellent idea, Mister Wallace"

Unfortunately the kino was a bit of a disappointment. As soon as Eli flew it through the 'picture frame' to the hillside, it disappeared from the room and they could see it hovering on the other side in the picture, but no readings appeared on Eli's pad and he could no longer control the kino, which continued to hang there, like it was waiting for orders and just wasn't receiving them.

"Well I guess we'll never know where this really goes" Eli said, frustrated.

"Perhaps" said Rush.

"We can hardly just step through and trust that we'll be able to get back!" said Eli, "That's insane!"

"Well, yes" said Rush, "It would be insane to travel to an unknown planet, with unknown conditions and no known means of returning, but if instead of the hillside or the quarry you stepped through into this room"

"What do you mean, 'you step through' " Eli gripped, "Why does it have to be me?"

"It doesn't" Rush said, "I'd be willing to try it first myself. If I'm right there should be an identical device on the other side, since we will in fact only be traveling from this room to this room".

"But what if that isn't this room at all?" said Eli, "What if it's a nearly identical room on a completely different ship?"

"Then we will have discovered an easy way to replenish our supplies and find new parts as needed" Rush replied.

"What if the almost identical ship just doesn't happen to have a giant picture machine on it?"

"I'm certain it does Eli, the room looks identical to this one".

"What if it leads back in time or something! You could be stranded a million years in the past on an empty ship!"

"Well then at least I'd have peace and quiet" Rush quipped, "besides once on the other side, all I should have to do is dial in the same sequence and step back through to our own time."

"But how can you be sure?"

"All scientific discoveries come with risk Eli and the men who make those discoveries, do you know what we call them, Eli? …heroes."

"You're trying to make me be the one to test it. Again!"

"Eli… where's your adventurous spirit? After all those video games, wouldn't you like to try and be a real hero for once?"

Eli glowered at Rush, he knew he was being manipulated, but he also knew he was going to end up doing it anyway. "I hate you" he said to Rush, as he stood in front of the picture frame, closed his eyes and prepared to step through…


	2. Chapter 2

The trip took no time at all. It seemed just as simple as stepping through a doorway, there was no tingling or any other strange sensation he'd come to associate with gate travel. Really he'd felt nothing at all.

The first thing he saw was that there was in fact a picture frame device on this side, which was a huge relief, but it appeared to still be covered, like nobody had touched it in centuries and of course Dr. Rush was nowhere to be seen. In fact Eli didn't see anybody or any evidence that anybody had been in this room in a very long time and the air he was alarmed to realize was a little on the thin side.

He made his way to the door, deciding that the best thing to do would be to get to a console and make sure life support was functioning, because if it wasn't, this trip could end very badly for him. The door opened without any fuss and the air which rushed in from the corridor felt rich to his oxygen deprived lungs. "Well at least I'm not going to suffocate" he said, making a beeline for the apple core room to see what he could learn about where and when he was.

Eli was so lost in his own thoughts that he nearly collided with a woman as he came around a corner. "Barnes!" he exclaimed, realizing who he was.

"Eli?" the military woman said, sounding like she couldn't believe her own eyes, "Is it really you?"

"Well, yeah, it's really me" he replied, "I was just with Rush in the storage room and we were working with this Ancient picture machine thing and Rush talked me into stepping through it, which really pissed me off at the time, but now that I'm not dead, I'm actually kind of excited by the whole thing… wait, Barnes… is there something wrong?" he asked, noting the woman's shock at seeing him. "Why? Am I dead or something over here? Because if I am that is not cool at all!"

"No… no you're, I mean you, I mean… I don't know what I mean!" she exclaimed, putting her hands on Eli's shoulders and slowly running her hands across his chest as if she couldn't believe he was solid.

"Barnes, are you ok?" he asked.

Barnes grinned, "Never been better!" she said, grabbing Eli's neck and pulling him in for a long kiss that left Eli's head spinning.

"Ok" he stammered, "Clearly something is very wrong with this universe…or maybe very right. I don't know! All of the sudden, up is down and down is up!"

"You're telling me" she said, "These last few years have been Hell! Look I don't care how you got here or why you came, I'm just happy to have someone I don't have to share with everyone else!"

"Ok, you kind of lost me there" he said, "How about you start from the top and tell me everything".

"Sure sure" she said, "But I'd better call the commander first. If she finds out about this without me being the one to report it, she'll have me outside scrubbing the ship in a spacesuit!"

"She?"

"Yeah, I guess that would be new to you" she said unlooping her radio, "Commander Wray, this is Barnes…"

"Wray! Camille Wray is running Destiny?" he yelped.

"_Barnes… who was that talking?"_

"It's Eli Wallace Miss Wray, he's come back"

"_What?"_

"He said he and Rush activated some kind of machine and he walked through it and Eli ended up here."

"_Well how fortunate for us_" Commander Wray said, "_Very fortunate indeed… Barnes! Please bring Mister Wallace to the medbay immediately. I'll meet you there. Wray out."_

"Okay, Eli" said Barnes, "I guess the commander wants the Doc to check you out, so we'd better get going." As he went past leading the way to the medbay she slapped him on the rear and added, "We'll just have to continue our conversation later…"

(0)

Eli spent the next hour in the medbay getting the most thorough medical exam he'd ever had. He didn't know why TJ needed that many blood samples, but he sure hoped she'd leave him a little too. He'd tried repeated to get TJ or _commander_ Wray to tell him what the Hell was going on, but he'd gotten nowhere.

"Well, TJ" Wray said, "Is he healthy or not?"

"He's healthy as he ever was" TJ replied, "No sign of the virus and all the blood tests came back clean".

"Glad to hear it" Wray said, "Now about the other tests I asked you to run?"

"Oh, I haven't collected those samples yet" she said, "I figured maybe we should explain our problem first, I mean he's going to notice eventually…"

"Yes please tell me what's going on" Eli begged, "I mean I can guess some things I mean, clearly in this universe the civilians plan to take over the ship must have worked?"

"Hardly" Tj said, looking coldly at Wray.

"Ok, then I guess… I guess that means that Young is…is dead."

"Yes Eli" Wray confirmed, "I'm afraid Colonel Young is dead".

"And Chloe is…?"

"Still alive, Mr. Wallace"

"Oh and Scott?"

"I'm afraid he's dead too" TJ said, placing her hand on Eli's shoulder.

"Oh, well that's… that's too bad." Eli said, grief battling against his old feelings for Chloe.

"What about Greer?"

"Dead" Camille said, in a flat tone.

"Brody?"

"Yes" Camille said, "Brody, Volker, Morrison, Becker… all dead" Mr. Wallace do you understand what I'm telling you?"

"Well yeah, it sounds like almost everyone is dead!"

"Not hardly" she said, "Only the men".

"Wait what?" Eli said, "Are you telling me all the men on Destiny… all of them are… are dead?"

"Well, all but one" she replied, taking a seat by the bed Eli was currently lying on. "You see about three and a half years ago we were under attack by drones…"

"That happened in my universe too!" Eli said.

"Yes, well in this one we realized that they were waiting for us at every star we tried to refuel at…"

"Us too" said Eli.

"So we, or more specifically YOU, came up with a crazy plan to refuel in a star they would never expect us to use…"

"A blue super giant?"

"Yes" Wray said, "So as I'm sure they did in your world, we picked a star and before entering this star to recharge, we sent everyone to a planet using the stargate, because the ship would simply get too hot for anyone to survive the recharge without a spacesuit. Three people stayed on board the ship using the spacesuits, so that they would be able to survive the extreme heat."

"This all sounds pretty familiar" Eli said.

"Well since you're still alive, I'll just assume my narrative is different from here on" Wray said, "I was on the planet with most everyone else; we were waiting for the ship to be habitable again and looking around the city for anything we could salvage before we jumped into FTL. One of the teams we sent out into the city found a lab of some kind, it looked like they had been researching something, TJ thought it was a disease lab of some kind and she and Doctor Morrison stayed behind there to try and extract any records they could find on ALS."

"I don't remember hearing anything about a lab" Eli said, "So I guess this is where the deadly death happens?"

"I'm afraid so. At some point for reasons best left to God, Dr. Morrison decided to open one of the canisters he'd found in the lab freezer. He said afterwards that it was an accident, he'd dropped it and that was how the canister opened…"

"But" TJ interjected," it doesn't really matter now how it happened. The point is, that canister contained a virus that attaches itself to the Y chromosome and within hours the men started to drop like flies. There… there was nothing I could do to stop it. By the time it was safe to return to Destiny, only a few men were still alive. Since we couldn't stay on the planet I ordered the two still aboard to…"

"Two? I thought you said three before?" Eli said.

"I'm getting to that" TJ said, "Since we couldn't stay on the planet I ordered the two still on the ship to quarantine themselves until I could determine if the women were carrying the virus."

"So what happened to me?" Eli asked quietly, "I mean in my reality, I was one of the people who stayed on the ship, but I get the distinct impression that I'm pretty dead here."

"I'm afraid you _are_ dead here, Eli" Camille said gently, "You and Park were trapped in the garden when the ship went through the star…"

"Oh…"

"Dr. Park was able to submerge herself in water and survive the trip through the star, but you…" Camille said, "You weren't so lucky".

"You mean I… I burned up?" Eli asked.

"Yes, I'm afraid you did" she replied. "When the dome was breached you were sucked out into the star."

"Oh my God..." Eli said.

"I'm sure it was… quick, Eli" TJ said, trying her best to make getting sucked into a star sound less horrifying.

"So wait you said one man survived" Eli reminded her, "So if all the men on the planet died and I… died, that must mean…"

"Mr. Wallace! It's wonderful to see you again" said Dr. Rush, emerging from the shadows, looking happier to see Eli than Eli could have imagined possible.


	3. Chapter 3

"Eli" Rush said, advancing to, of all things, give him a hug, "I'm so happy to see you again my boy!"

"_Ok_" Eli thought, "_maybe in this reality Rush actually liked me?_". Once Rush released him from the hug, Eli unsure what to say, patted Rush on the shoulder and murmured awkwardly about being happy to see Rush too.

"I know I was never easy on you, Eli" Rush said, "But that was only because I knew what you could do if you actually tried… and now that you're back, in a way anyhow, I have a lot work that needs doing on this ship and verra little help."

Eli suddenly realized how tired Rush looked compared to the last Rush he'd met. Under the (oddly creepy) smile, the strain was clear. "Sure, I'll… be glad to help."

"Splendid!" Rush said, clasping Eli's shoulder with his arm and gently propelling him out of the medbay.

"Rush!" Wray demanded, "We have more pressing matters to deal with than you needing an extra pair of hands!"

"Later, Camille" Rush said without stopping or allowing Eli to stop, "_I'll_ explain how things are now on Destiny to Mister Wallace, man to man if you like."

Eli allowed himself to be pulled out of the medbay by the smaller man, thinking, 'Did Rush just promise to have an actual conversation with me?' Eli wasn't sure if he liked that idea.

(0)

"You see Eli" Rush began, once they were far enough away to avoid being overheard, "The last two years have been verra difficult for all of us, but in particular for me."

"Yeah, I guess it can't be easy keeping this ship going with so few people to help."

"It's not just that, Eli" he replied, "There have also been some less _technical_ difficulties to deal with."

"If you mean suddenly having to work for Wray, I can see your point."

"No no" he said, "Miss Wray has been an excellent commander. I know she may have come off a bit harsh back there, but she's really a verra warm woman once you get to know her."

"I can't wait" Eli deadpanned as they stopped outside a door.

Rush hesitated, his hand hovering over the door panel, as if he wasn't sure if he wanted to open it or not.

"Eli" he started, "About the other matter."

"Yeah?"

"After the blue sun incident, when so many died, the women on this ship soon began to pester me night and day, at first it was questions, endless questions… 'Dr. Rush how do I do this again?', 'Dr. Rush can you help me move this', 'Dr. Rush can you fix the shower'!"

"That really doesn't sound that bad."

"Then they began to …escalate", Rush said and then he added quietly, "Dr. Park was the first one to visit my room in the middle of the night."

"What?"

"Others soon followed until I finally encrypted the lock on my door, so that they couldn't get in anymore."

"Wait," Eli said, "Are you telling me that the women on this ship suddenly starting coming to you for…"

"For sex" Rush said, "We're both adults, Eli, I should think we could discuss this _somewhat_ openly at least."

"But that's like, every guys dream come true! And it happened to _you_ of all people" Eli said knowing he was sounding petty, "There really _is_ something wrong with this universe."

"Don't be so hasty to envy me, Eli. It's not all it's cracked up to be being the only stud in the barnyard."

Eli snorted, '_I'd certainly never complain'_ he thought, not that he was happy Scott and Young and all the other guys were dead or anything, but the idea of a ship full of lonely women certainly sounded appealing to him, and the fact that Rush seemed worn out and even _annoyed _by it made no sense at all to him.

"Shortly thereafter" Rush continued, "I was called into a meeting" he paused, "I was told it was a 'science team' meeting, but it turned out to be more of a summons from the crew. Once I got there I found that all the women on the ship were already there and had apparently come to a decision amongst themselves."

"Go on" Eli said.

"They informed me that they had been discussing the recent massive loss of personnel on the ship and the need to …replenish our numbers as quickly as possible and as there is currently no know way to get more people here from Earth and we've had no luck in locating any of the humans who lived in that galaxy…"

"Oh my God" Eli said, "Are you telling me…wait! What's behind this door we've been standing by for the last ten minutes?"

"Behind this door…" Rush replied, "As you've no doubt surmised by now …is the nursery…"


	4. Chapter 4

Eli Wallace, math genius and MIT dropout, was currently sitting cross legged on the floor playing peek-a-boo with Lisa Park's toddler daughter Marie, who happened to be the oldest child in the room at just under two years old and he could now add to the day's many surprises the sight of Lieutenant Vanessa James on all fours trying to teach a little boy, who later learned was her son, Sherman, to crawl.

Lt. James had been quite happy to see him 'again', as was everyone he'd met in this universe. She had introduced him to the ships newest crewmembers, sixteen in all, nine girls, seven boys and as Rush sheepishly pointed out, as two of the crawlers used him for a jungle gym, there were three more on the way.

Tiring of their game Marie Park toddled off towards Lt. James burbling some kind of baby gibberish at her that Eli realized was a request for milk. James picked up the hungry child and took her into another room, presumably to feed her, though Eli couldn't help wondering how she was planning on doing that and how he quickly he could get hold of a kino to find out.

"Don't even think about it, Eli" Rush said, reading his thoughts loud and clear.

"Oh I wasn't thinking anything" Eli answered defensively, "Well of course I was thinking, but you know, just not about breasts, I mean not about James' breasts in particular… did it just get hot in here or is it just me?"

"That wasn't a verra convincing denial there, Eli" Rush said, smiling once again, "_I wonder when that will that stop being creepy?", _Eli thought, suddenly wondering exactly how well acquainted with those breasts Eli _hadn't _just being thinking about, Rush was.

"So these babies" Eli started, oddly embarrassed by his own curiosity, "They were all conceived… naturally?"

"Well, some of the women preferred it that way", Rush said candidly, "Though TJ did prove verra skilled at facilitating a more …clinical conception for those that preferred it that way."

Eli took that in, somehow feeling better about the situation knowing that Rush hadn't in fact seen _every_ woman on the ship naked, but his next question was one he'd been afraid to ask since he came to this insane place, "So, I uh, I haven't seen Chloe around yet" he said, "Did she, 'er is one of these kids hers?"

"Not one of these, no" Rush said evasively.

"Why not?" Eli asked, "If something bad happened you can tell me, I'm her best friend! Where is she?"

"Her best friend?" Rush said, "I never got the impression that was how you felt about Chloe, but more how she felt about you."

"Maybe once, I felt some other things for Chloe" Eli said, "But I've moved on and I'm perfectly happy back where I came from with our being just friends."

Rush shrugged, almost dislodging the little girl who'd been hanging on his neck, he caught her with a practiced ease, placing her in his lap, where she stayed for about three seconds before she starting to climb him again.

"You didn't answer my question" Eli said, "Where is Chloe?"

"Chloe," Rush replied, "is perfectly fine, as is her son."

"Her …so she has a baby now too?"

"Yes" Rush confirmed, "and he's a fine healthy wee boy."

"But he's not one of these babies?"

"No" he answered," his mother prefers to keep him with her as much as possible."

"Can I see her?" Eli asked.

"Of course" Rush replied, "I just thought it would be better to come here first and show you just how important the future of this ship, this crew is to us, Eli and at some point we need to discuss the future."

"Uh, sure, the future", Eli started hardly paying attention to what Rush was saying, as he tried to think of the best way of asking what he really wanted to ask, "So, uh, you know how you said people would choose whichever method of… conception they desired, which um, which one did Chloe choose? You know just out of curiosity, as her friend."

"I'm afraid I can't tell you any details of that kind, Mr. Wallace" Rush said sternly, "You see to try and maintain any sense of privacy in all this we've had to develop a new moral code of sorts and one of the primary ones seems to be that they would rather I not discuss anything about our… private times together with anyone else. They of course can tell whoever they like, but if they choose to keep that information to themselves, neither I, nor Lieutenant Johansson will disclose which one of us they came to see.

Sort of your own 'don't ask, don't tell' policy?

"Something like that." Rush said.

"And Chloe would rather not tell people?" Eli asked.

"Well, let's just say, I'll leave that up to her" Rush replied.

"I'd like to see her" Eli said.

"I'll take you to her right now" Rush replied.

(0)

"Wait" Eli said a few minutes later as he and Dr. Rush walked towards the crew quarters, "Chloe's quarters are this way."

"No, actually, you'll find they're this way" Rush said, leading him to a door Eli recognized.

"Isn't this your room" Eli asked him, "I thought you said you would take me to Chloe?"

"I just did" Rush said as he reached out and tapped the door panel before stepping into the room, "Honey" he called, "I'm home!"


	5. Chapter 5

Dr. Rush, Chloe and Eli sat around a crate that had been repurposed as a small table, the two men toyed with their food, which was unfortunately the same gelatinous goop Eli had hated back on _his Destiny_, while Chloe feed her small son his own portion of the goop.

"I really wish you wouldna give him that slop, Chloe" Rush said, "The lad's still young enough to live on milk; he shouldn't have to suffer before his time."

"He needs to be introduced to solid food, Nicholas" she replied, "You know that."

"I wouldna exactly call this 'solid' food anyway" Rush muttered sulkily.

Chloe rolled her eyes heavenward, clearly this wasn't the first time they'd had this conversation, "You're very quiet" she said turning to Eli who was still moving his food around in its dish, probably hoping it would turn into anything else.

"I'm just kind of overwhelmed right now, ok" Eli said, easily out-sulking Rush.

"Look Eli, I know things here must be very different then the place you come from, but you need to understand that we're doing the best we can with what we have left" Chloe said, leaning over to put her hand on his arm, "When Matt… when he died, I didn't really care about anything. As far as I was concerned I'd lost Matt and I'd lost you, my friend and I never expected to see any of you ever again."

"Yet here you are, living with" Eli eyed Rush accusingly, "_him_."

Chloe laughed.

Rush managed to look hurt, "I think little Eli probably needs his nappy changed" he said, taking his son from his mother and exiting to the bathroom in a huff.

Eli momentarily felt insulted that Rush was referring to him as a child again until the obvious dawned on him, "Wait, you named your son _Eli_? The _two_ of you named your son for me?"

Chloe smiled, "Of course we did. You meant a lot to both of us you know."

"Both?" Eli mused.

"Yes Eli. Both." She said, "Nick cared a great deal about you, you just couldn't see it because he was so tough on you. But he did it because he cared, surely you see that now."

Eli shrugged noncommittally, "I just never pictured, even in my wildest dreams, that you would ever end up with him" Eli said, "is it just because he's, you know, the last man on Earth, not that there aren't any men left on Earth, but you know just in a figurative sense …or a literal sense, since there are literally no other men left on the ship, at least until today" he babbled, "I guess all I really mean to say is… why?"

"Why?"

"Yeah, why" he repeated, "Why are you two here. Together. Having cozy meals by cell phone light."

"It's kind of a long story" she said, Eli signed for her to go on, so she did, "Well like I said, when Matt and you and the Colonel and everyone was just suddenly …gone, I was beside myself, Eli. I hardly left my room, I didn't even know what was happening outside with Wray taking control of the ship and Nick was apparently in either isolation or a spacesuit for weeks until they were sure the danger to him had past… I knew nothing about any of it and if someone bothered to come and talk to me I really didn't care what they had to say."

"I guess it must have been pretty awful."

"It was" she replied, "Eventually Rush started turning up on my doorstep to visit", she laughed at the memory, "I thought he had just become concerned about my well being and was coming to check up on me since I kept turning TJ away, but I think mostly he was just hiding."

"Hiding?"

"From the women" Chloe said, "Apparently they wouldn't leave him alone, he even asked if he could sleep over once in a while… no not like that!" she said, catching Eli's look of disgust, "He just wanted some peace and quiet and a decent night's sleep and I guess I was pretty much the only woman on the ship who wasn't pestering him."

"I'm sure you're exaggerating there, Chloe. I mean surely Wray wasn't all over him at least."

"Not in that way, no, but she did kept hammering on him about how he 'needed to cooperate in this matter for the good of the crew'"

"Judging by that nursery I'd say he more than did his part" Eli said.

"We're only human after all, Eli" Chloe said quietly. "Anyway, I guess all this just kind of drew us together. Nick and I… we've been through a lot together."

"I thought you blamed him for your father's death."

"That was a long time ago! I know now how wrong I was to think badly of him for that" she said, "And he did recue me from the aliens."

Eli shrugged, "Yeah, I guess."

"And really he's a very warm and carrying man when you get to know him" she said, her eyes suddenly losing their focus as she looked inside rather than out, "He feels things so deeply, more deeply than any of us knew."

Eli thought he was going to hurl. He couldn't have imagined a worse universe if he'd tried. He'd already pinched himself a dozen times, hoping that this was just a nightmare; parallel universe of not, this universe blew.

"Look, Chloe, I'm happy for you two, really I am" he lied, "But I think it's time for me to go home now. Really it's been fun…"

"You can't leave!" Chloe exclaimed, "I mean, you just got here, you don't have to leave right away" she said hurriedly," Why not stay and at least say hello to everyone? I know I can't be the only one who missed you."

"Well I guess if anyone wants a chance to say goodbye, you could have them meet me in the storage bay…"

"Sure" Chloe said, "We could do that, or! we could invite people over _here_ to see you! I'll just step out and call commander Wray and have her get the word out that you're planning on leaving,. That way everyone can come and say goodbye to you properly."

Not waiting for a reply from Eli, Chloe rushed out of the room, radio in hand.

Eli didn't understand why she had to leave the room just to call Wray. Something just didn't seem right here, but then again nothing had seemed right in this universe since he'd gotten here. On impulse Eli got up and walked to the door, planning to surprise Chloe and hopefully hear exactly what she was saying to Wray. Problem was when he hit the door panel, the door didn't open like it was supposed to. He was locked in.


	6. Chapter 6

Faced with a locked door and a minor panic attack, Eli surveyed his options. Opening the door would require prying off at least one wall panel to get at the Ancient circuitry. He still had his radio and as far as he knew it should still work, different universe notwithstanding, but who should he call? Can he really trust any of them? And unfortunately he didn't think he could fit in the vents, not even after months on Becker's goop diet.

His options cleared up considerably when the door opened and Chloe returned radio in hand and apparently somewhat startled to see Eli waiting by the door.

"Eli, were you listening at the door?" she asked, dropping her radio back on the crate table.

"No of course not!" he stammered, trying to think of a good excuse and deciding honesty might be the best policy here, "I was just a little worried by you taking off to make a phone call to Wray instead of just calling her from here. I mean clearly your call was about me and you didn't want me to overhear you and I just don't know how I should feel about that."

"Don't be so paranoid, Eli" she said, "I just felt like you wouldn't want to hear all the, you know, girl talk."

"Girl talk?"

"Yeah, girl talk, mommy talk… you know that kind of thing."

"You mean you just had a nice little 'mommy talk' with… Wray?"

"Well yeah, I mean we have them all the time" Chloe stammered, "I mean she has a son, I have a son, just a lot of that kind of stuff."

"Wray has a baby too!"

"Of course she did. She couldn't ask all of us to do something she wasn't willing to do."

"Does that mean she and Rush… you know."

Chloe turned away and started to clear up the supper dishes, "You'd have to ask Nick about that" she said, "We generally don't talk much about that side of his life, it's just sort of painful for me to think about all those…" she stopped clearing the dishes and sat down beside Eli, "This just isn't how I pictured my life!" she said, "I mean who would want to live this way?"

"I wouldn't mind giving it a try" Eli muttered.

"Really?" Chloe said, "You would've been happy to share Ginn with all the other _men_ on the ship?"

"No! You know that's not what I meant!"

"So you think _she_ would've been happy with this situation if you and she switched places with Nick and me?"

"Well no" he conceded, "I'm sure it would bother her too" Eli paused, "I just have trouble seeing you be jealous of Rush in any context! Matt sure, I mean if Matt had been the one to survive and he was in the position of… of filling the gene pool single handedly…" he broke off unsure how to get that image out of his head.

"Then I'm sure Lt. Scott would have done his upmost to ensure Chloe was as happy as she could be in this difficult situation" Rush said from the doorway.

Eli started, he hadn't even noticed Rush had come back.

"In any case Mr. Wallace," Rush continued, "Whether you're happy to see me, I am, as I said before, very happy to see you again and I think you'll find so is everyone else on the ship" he paused to pass _little_ Eli back to his mother as a knock sounded on the 'front' door, "In fact if you'll kindly go answer the door, I think you'll find we have visitors."

(0)

Faced with the stern line-up of Wray, Tj and Lt. James, Eli wondered if he could fit in the vents after all.

Wray had her arms crossed and a serious expression on her face that Eli was sure he didn't like, Tj was hard to read as always, but she smiled tightly when she caught his eye and James just looked like she thought this whole situation was the funniest thing she'd ever seen.

Rush spoke first, "Eli, That future we were going to discuss at some point? Starts now."

"I um, I'm not sure just exactly what you mean, but I have noticed that they," he gestured to Wray, TJ and James, "are blocking the door."

"Yes well," Rush began, "Chloe informed me that you were planning on going home immediately and I'm afraid we just can't allow that."

"Allow?" Eli said, "You can't _allow_ that? What am I a prisoner now?"

"Of course not Eli," Chloe broke in, "I just think if you would stick around and really look at the situation on board our Destiny, then you would see how much we need you to stay with us. "

"For a while anyway" James said.

"If you're suggesting what I think you're suggesting…"

"I am suggesting just that." Rush said, adding, "I've done my part Eli, there's a whole nursery full of Rushes out there ready to take on the universe and carry on with the mission when all of us are dust… but _they_ can't do it alone." Rush turned to TJ, "Miss Johansson, if you please…"

"Genetic stability has always been an issue since we started this project two years ago" she stated sounding as if she was reading exposition for a script, "For the last several years we've been doing the best we can with one male and a healthy diverse population of women, but the more genetic diversity we can manage to pass on to the next generation, the better their chances of surviving in the long term… So basically, two males are better than one in this situation. "

"And as Rush has explained to us, this mission could take several generations to complete" Wray added.

"Do you understand now why we're asking you to stay Eli?" Chloe asked, "Can't you see how much you're needed here?"

"Well yeah," Eli said, "I can see why genetic diversity is so important, but clearly I've missed the part where we stopped trying to get home and started planning to live and die on Destiny. I mean, YOU Camille of all people, you were always pushing for us to find a way back home and now it seems like you're the ringleader of the Stay Put party!"

"It took me a long time to come around on this idea, Eli. But now that I understand how important this mission could be to all of us, not just on this ship, but to all of humanity, I feel like I have to do everything in my power to see that we make it where we are going and if you don't like the way we've chosen to fulfill our mission than that's just too bad."

"Camille" Rush said, sensing Wray's approach was only making Eli even likely to want to stay, "There's no need to threaten Mr. Wallace over this issue, if he doesn't feel that The Mission is worth his efforts then you can't bully him into changing his mind."

"Wait a minute," Wray said, "Now you want to just let him go? You were the one that wanted to lock him up if he tried to run off!"

"Well I've changed my mind!" Rush grumbled through clinched teeth. "If he doesn't want to stay then he doesn't bloody well have to!"

"Nicholas!" Chloe exclaimed, "You said…"

"I know what I said!" Rush shouted with Eli and four women now giving him black looks. Rush waved his arms dismissively, "I'm sorry Chloe" he said, "If you would all now please leave Eli and I alone for a few moments I think perhaps I can convince him to stay with us for at least a short time to help us with our problems." Rush looked pleadingly at Chloe, who sighed and ushered the other women outside the door, making sure Rush knew exactly how she felt about the situation with a look that said _he'd_ be sleeping on the floor tonight if he didn't get _Eli_ to stay on board.

Once the door closed Rush turned to Eli, "I know you don't like feeling pressured like this Eli" he said, "But surely to have to see how much we need… how much _I _need you to stay... I can't take it anymore Eli!"

"Take what?" Eli asked sulkily, "Having every woman on the ship at your beck and call? Or are you just getting tired of Chloe?"

Rush took a step towards Eli. Eli had never felt closer to getting punched in his life.

Rush's face twitched as he struggled to remain calm in what he considered a dire situation.

"Look Eli," he said after a time, "The simple truth is that I'm basically a one woman man. This situation may seem like a dream come true to a young man like yourself, but for me it's been a nightmare! I've been plagued day and night by a motley matriarchy of women that constantly interrupt my work and who want nothing more than to use me for their own ends and laugh about it in the mess hall the next morning! And the ONE good thing to come out of this mess is that against all odds, Chloe and I have found some happiness together and I want nothing more than to marry Chloe, have a dozen children and be allowed time enough at last to do my work, which whether you believe in The Mission or not is, I promise you Eli, very important to all of us." Rush paused to take a breath and then added, "We need you Eli. _I_ need you… please."

"Wait," Eli said, "So you're basically asking me to take your place?"

"Yes. You can have them all and welcome to them. All I want is _Chloe_."

"So Chloe won't be…?

"No", he said crossing his arms stubbornly, "I think Chloe will not be needing _your_ services on that front, Mr. Wallace."

"But surely for the sake of _genetic diversity_…"

"Genetic diversity be damned!" Rush said, "I've done _my_ part for _the greater good_ Eli, now it's _your_ turn… your chance to do your part. What do you say?"

Eli had to admit being 'pestered' by all those women didn't sound like such a bad deal to him, even if Chloe was still completely out of his reach. Corporal Barnes enthusiastic kiss from earlier came pleasantly to mind.

"Well?" Rush asked.

"I…" Eli stuttered, "This universe is so weird."

"Is that a yes, Eli?" Rush asked.

"Well… yeah. I guess it is" he said, "Women of Destiny… come and get it!"


	7. Chapter 7

Lt. Vanessa James stopped Eli as he was coming out of the med bay apparently just to tell him, "You look exhausted!"

"Gee thanks" Eli said, wearily, "I had no idea virility tests could be so draining."

James snorted.

"Oh very funny James!"

"Hey, no offence meant, we're all very excited you decided to stay, Eli" she said.

"What 'all Rush, all the time' wasn't quite doing it for you?"

"Very funny Eli...Though, Speaking of which, um… are you busy tonight? I still have a few black mangos left over in my room from the last planet we visited..."

"Thanks, but I think I'm already booked for the next few nights" Eli said, "Barnes and Park came in earlier and asked and TJ insists that I get some rest at least every other night, so maybe if you could just start a sign-up sheet or something…"

"Cute, Wallace. Real cute" she said rolling her eyes, "Still a sign-up sheet might not be such a bad idea. At least we won't have to hunt you down every time like Rush. You know I'd swear that man was living in one of the vents for a while, we couldn't find him anywhere for a whole week!"

"That sounds like Rush alright."

Eli continued on his way, intending to try and take a nap before his date with Barnes tonight, when he ran into a blond airman he thought he remembered as 'Jennings'.

"It's _Hennings_ actually" the airman replied, "But never mind that, I was just wondering if you had a little time to pay me a visit tonight?"

"No, sorry" he said, "I'm pretty much booked for the week. I think if you could go to the mess hall, you'd find Lt. James working on a sign-up sheet."

"Oh, well, isn't that, uh… proficient" she said, "Well then, maybe I'll go do that and we can get together later?"

"Looking forward to it" Eli said as the pretty blond walked down the hall swaying her hips provocatively.

Eli took it all back. This universe was awesome.

(0)

"What do you mean, 'low motility'?" Eli asked Lt. Johansson as they stood alone in the medbay looking at his test results.

"It just means that your sperm aren't as active as they should be, Eli. Especially in a man your age" she said, "I mean Rush is twice your age and his were racing each other around the peetri dish!"

"Thanks TJ. That makes me feel much better."

"Eli with numbers this low I'm not sure you'd be able to impregnate anyone, even with medical help."

Eli slumped into a nearby chair wondering what his mother would say when he told her she might never have any grandchildren and if he could blame it on gate-travel before he suddenly realized, "Wait! TJ, you're not planning on telling everyone about my… you know…"

"Eli I think I have too. It's hardly fair to lie to the crew about something this important to everybody" she said, adding gently, "They'll find out eventually you know."

"Could you just maybe hold off on the big press conference for a few days?" Eli pleaded, "Please."

TJ sighed, "I suppose so Eli, but I'll have to inform Commander Wray immediately."

"Great" Eli muttered, hugging himself in misery, "Just great."

(0)

"Are you telling me after all this fuss that he's infertile?" Wray demanded.

"I'm afraid so" Tj replied, "Perhaps we might get lucky once and awhile with a viable specimen that could be implanted, but it would be a one in a million shot" she said, adding cautiously," if I'm even interpreting this data correctly. Fertility and obstetrics aren't exactly what I was trained for."

"Great so now I'm not only a drop-out but a dud as well" Eli groaned.

"Oh I'd never call ye a 'dud' Eli" Rush said startling everyone as he once again managed to enter a room in total silence. Eli was starting to think he was really a ninja, like that dude in Highlander. "Maybe a slow starter as far as the ladies are concerned, but certainly not a dud …Now what were we talking about?"

Wray turned to Rush with a smug smile, "Looks like you're back on duty, Rush."

"What?"

TJ handed him a printout of Eli's test results.

"No bloody way!" he exclaimed, throwing the papers in the air, "I'm retired! As in permanently perpetually and everlastingly… RETIRED" he turned to Eli, "Take the tests again! And this time do it right!"

"Do what right?" Eli asked, "I don't know any other way to do it!"

"I'll draw you a picture" Rush growled.

"Um, Sir?" Corporal Barnes entered the medbay interrupted Rush's latest hissy fit, "I seem to have found another one."

"Another one what?" Wray demanded.

Barnes stuck her right arm out of the door and dragged in her latest captive.

"Oh my God" TJ said as she stared into the eyes of a second Nicholas Rush, "Now there's two of them!"

Eli put his head in his hands. Worst. Day. Ever.


	8. Chapter 8

Wray, TJ, Eli and Barnes stood in a line regarding the dual Rushs' in fascination. Their eyes darting from one to the other like so many cats at a tennis match.

One of the Rushes, judging by the sullen expression he was still wearing was the one native to this universe, shrugged and retreated to his favorite leaning spot his sullenness morphing into a more calculating posture.

"What are you plotting now Rush?" Wray asked, apparently getting the same vibes Eli was getting about Rush's attitude change.

"I was just thinking how very fortuitous it was that my other self; I presume the one from _your _original universe Eli" he added, "Showed up here at just the right moment to save my sanity."

"I don't know what you're referring too" New Rush said, "And judging from my expression I'm not sure I care too. My only purpose in coming here was to find Eli" he said turning to Eli, "You've been gone for more than a day now, Eli. Colonel Young is… well he's not too happy with me right now and if I don't come back with you soon, he has Greer and an armed team standing by to follow me into this world, so if I were you Eli, I'd say my goodbyes to my other self and the rest of this other Destiny's crew and start walking back towards the storage bay."

"You know what. That sounds like a great plan to me" Eli said moving towards the door, "Let's get out of here"

Eli's Rush moved to join him at the door but was quickly blocked by Commander Wray.

"Camille" New Rush said testily, "What is the meaning of all this? I realize that intra-dimensional visits aren't exactly standard operating procedure by any means, but I think you can understand why I don't want to hang around to get better acquainted with myself."

"Oh I think we can easily deal with Greer and any other _men_ who come through that device" Camille said, "One way or another" she smiled, then waved dismissively to Eli, "Mr. Wallace… you're free to go. As for this other Rush?" she said turning back to New Rush, " Corporal Barnes! Please escort our newest visitor to the brig until I have time to explain our needs to him …at length."

(0)

Eli had followed New Rush and Barnes out of the medbay trying his best to talk Barnes into letting Rush go.

"Come on Barnes" Eli said, "You know you've already got one Rush, it's not like having a second one in the gene pool would help matters any."

"Gene pool?" Rush asked cocking an eyebrow, "Would you care to fill me in on what _exactly_ you've been up to in the last 24 hrs. Eli?"

"Hopefully nothing he'll be ashamed to tell me" Chloe said, coming around the corner carrying her son and planting a big kiss on an astonished Nicholas Rush.

"It's nice, 'er, …nice to see you too Miss Armstrong" New Rush said, quickly regaining his composure, "I'm sure Eli can explain the situation to you and most importantly… to me."

"Well, it's sort of a long story…" Eli began.

(0)

"So that about covers it" Eli finished, taking in expressions of fascination, embarrassment and boredom on the faces of Rush, Chloe and Barnes respectively.

"So my other self has spent the last two years being used by breeding stock by the entire female crew?"

"Pretty much" Eli said.

"My God that sounds…"

"Awesome?" Eli supplied.

"Exhausting" Rush finished, "I can see why my other self is in such a bad mood."

Eli was incredulous at how Rush was taking this story, "Are you even bothered by the fact that every man on this ship is dead?" he asked New Rush.

"The universe is full of danger Eli" he replied, "It could strike any one of us down at any time. Myself included, though it appears I escaped this particular hazard, not unscarred certainly, but at least I still have my work."

"Your work? You're just happy you're still alive so that you can go on _working_? …So you're not the least bit interested in seeing them?"

"Seeing who Eli?"

"Your children!"

"Technically they're not _my_ children Eli and I certainly have no desire to join my other self here in this miserably stupid universe being forced to procreate against my will! In fact Eli, if you'd…"

"How about Chloe?" Eli interrupted, "You didn't seem the least bit surprised about that."

"Eli, the Miss Armstrong from our own universe and I have had a special bond for, for quite some time now", Rush smiled at Chloe, receiving one in return from her, "So it's not shocking at all that something of this sort could develop in this situation."

Barnes coughed, "I hate to break up this meeting of the minds, but my orders were to lock this one up" she said poking New Rush in the chest, "And I intend to carry out those orders, so if you two are done chatting? ...we need to be on our way."

"Ah yes," Rush said, "The perfect view of the military mind, never mind facts, intelligence or the reality of the situation …just follow orders. No matter how stupid they are."

Barnes eyes narrowed, "Well as I see it, the reality of your situation is that _I_ have a gun and there was nothing in my orders that said _you_ needed to be able to walk for the rest of your life!"

"Guns and threats of violence?" Rush sneered, "Lovely, I'm so proud of the education system to which I dedicated so many years of my life" Rush mocked, adding, "If you and your female cohorts would just listen to me, then I can prove to you that you don't need me, Eli or in fact my other self at all."

"What do you mean, Nick?" Chloe asked.

"I'm surprised Eli didn't think of it really" New Rush said, "My other self has I'm sure been too busy to discover the solution to our problems, but back in our universe Eli and myself have both had experience with a device that could solve all of your problems and leave myself, Eli and my other self, free to return to our work."

"Oh my God!" Eli exclaimed, hitting himself in the forehead with the palm of his hand, "I'd completely forgotten!"

"Forgotten what?" Barnes demanded?

"Well you see" Eli began, "It all started a little over a year ago on Mother's Day…"

(0)

The entire crew of the Destiny, children included, gathered in the gate room around the fertility device Eli and Rush #2 had uncovered in one of the Ancient storage bays.

Wray had held a meeting earlier to tell them New Rush's story about how this device could use DNA from any human donor of either gender, to impregnate any other human being (of either gender) and everyone was so excited about the possibilities, that the day had taken on a festive atmosphere, causing nearly constant smiles and occasional bouts of laughter among the female crew.

Eli was glad they'd stayed for the party, even though the other Rush had left the minute Wray told Barnes to stop pointing her gun at him.

Speaking of Commander Wray she was currently sitting on the floor playing peek-a-boo with her son, the site of Wray this happy this seemed weird to Eli.

"I really never thought I was the maternal type", Wray explained, "but I knew it was for the good of the ship and I couldn't ask all of them to do something I wasn't willing too and …just look at that skushy wushy face!" she said, "I just can't imagine my life without him now."

Rush (the one from this universe) clapped Eli on the back, "You're a good man" he said smiling (still creepy) while holding little Eli in his arms, "We can't possibly thank you enough for what you've done for us, Eli… would you like a hug?"

"Uh, no. No thank you."

"Please yourself" Rush said, turning back to Chloe who was laying out blankets and plates for a 'picnic' in the gate room.

Barnes thanked him next pulling Eli in for one last sloppy kiss.

TJ thanked him too, though verbally, "Thanks again Eli", she said, "I've been wanting to have another baby and Heaven knows our gene pool could use a little more …depth."

"Don't say that in front of Rush" Eli joked, "He's convinced his children will wind up running the galaxy someday."

"Well who knows, maybe they will" TJ said with a smile, "Are you still planning to leave tonight Eli?" she asked.

"Yeah" he replied, "I think I've had about enough of this universe for now. Not that it wasn't fun! For a while anyway…"

"We'll miss you Eli" Tj said, giving him a long hug.

"It's always nice to be missed!" Eli said, breaking away from Lt. Johansson and heading about reluctantly back to the trans-dimensional device that had brought him here.

(0)

"Ok" Eli muttered to himself, "The top dial goes like this, the middle dial…" the storage bay from back home finally appeared in the doorway.

Eli took a deep breath and held it as he stepped through into the storage bay.

(0)

Eli had been mildly annoyed that no one had come to greet him, assuming that after three days people would've missed him more.

He walked along the corridors towards the mess hall, wondering where everybody was, "Maybe they've got a surprise party somewhere" he wondered to himself.

The mess hall was as empty as the corridor had been and Eli was really starting to get worried. He'd only been gone a few days and Rush had stepped over a day later and he certainly didn't mention any kind of problem.

It wasn't until he reached the gate room that Eli finally saw someone. Colonel Young had his back to Eli and appeared to be whispering to three military personal Eli didn't recognize.

Then Colonel Young heard him approaching and turned around.

As Eli's hands shot up in surrender he wondered why the men were pointing their guns at _him_ and why Colonel Young was now sporting a very pointy goatee…


End file.
